Emily's POV
I lay on my old bed, staring at the cracked ceiling. The countdown to New Year echoed in the distance, each firework punctuating the silence in my heart. I could hear cheers and celebrations from the pack house, but none of it touched me. My world felt hollow, a gaping void filled with the weight of Alice's death, Tessa's absence, and the familiar sting of abandonment from my father.
I turned my head to the side. Balls of crumpled paper littered the floor like fallen leaves in autumn. Each one contained a drawing of Alice's face, engulfed in the flames that consumed her. Her screams still haunted me, a relentless ghost in my mind. I had drawn them over and over, hoping the pain would pour out of me and into the charcoal lines. But it didn't work. Nothing worked.
"You're path
